Africa Zone 3 Women’s Handball: Ivory Coast, Nigeria win big as Ghana fails to sparkle

The 2023 IHF Africa Zone 3 U-17 and U-19 women’s handball championship came to an end on Saturday, April 15 at the Accra Sports Stadium.

The week-long tournament saw the host, Ghana, failed to live up to expectations in both divisions despite picking up a bronze medal in the U-19 games.

Ivory Coast, having had a brilliant tournament had gold and silver medals to cheer about while Nigeria, who only came to the tournament with U-17 players made their involvement count.

In the U-17 division, Nigeria finished as winners while Ivory Coast and Benin finished first and second runners-up respectively.

Ghana finished the division in fourth place with Liberia taking the fifth position.

Ivory Coast were the deserving winners in the U-19 division after winning all four of their games in the tournament.

While Benin secured another podium finish in second, Ghana were the bronze medalists, having lost two of their fixture all tournaments while Liberia came in fourth.

In the individual awards, Nigeria’s Samuel Precious won the Goalkeeper of the tournament for the U-17s while Ghana’s Mary Dodoo clinch the award for the U-19 division.

The topscorer of the championship for U-17 was won by an Ivorian with Ghana’s Seidu Fatima winning for the senior side with 57 goals.

The Most Valuable Players for both divisions were won by Nigeria and Ivory Coast respectively.